Why Are People Tweeting About Trump, ’14 Words,’ and White Supremacy?

Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images.

President Donald Trump prompted a lot of tweeting about “14 words” and white supremacy when he posted a message that some users saw as a coded appeal to white supremacists. Here’s why.

On Tuesday, Trump posted a message that said “This is a battle to save the Heritage, History, and Greatness of our Country!”

This is a battle to save the Heritage, History, and Greatness of our Country! #MAGA2020

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2020

Though the theories are unsubstantiated, many Twitter users keyed in on the resemblance of the tweet to what the ADL calls “the most popular white supremacist slogan in the world.”

“14 Words” is a reference to that slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The slogan was coined by David Lane, a member of the white supremacist terrorist group known as The Order (Lane died in prison in 2007). The term reflects the primary white supremacist worldview in the late 20th and early 21st centuries: that unless immediate action is taken, the white race is doomed to extinction by an alleged “rising tide of color” purportedly controlled and manipulated by Jews.

Because of its widespread popularity, white supremacists reference this slogan constantly, in its full form as well as in abbreviated versions such as “14 Words”, “Fourteen Words,” or simply the number “14.”

Some tweets you may have seen on the subject:

This is what happens when Steven Miller gets the keys to the Twitter Account, 14 words based on The 14 Words, and 88 characters including spaces. H H in the middle. https://t.co/7LDmhcv1V9

— Bethany Black (@BeffernieBlack) July 1, 2020

I honestly did not have “the president of the United States tweets 14 words” on my apocalypse bingo sheet. https://t.co/JWaDUtqp19

— Andrew Thaler (@DrAndrewThaler) July 1, 2020

I see trump tweeted 14 words. Sarcastically no doubt

— David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) July 1, 2020

Subtle pic.twitter.com/Og0C8fZf8M

— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) June 30, 2020

Here’s a Trump tweet that was obviously written by someone to intentionally echo the Fourteen Words of white supremacists and Neo-Nazis.

It isn’t even arguable anymore that someone on this team signals extremists and conspiracy theorists. This stuff is insidious. pic.twitter.com/B4gNZIqoID

— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) June 30, 2020

A few weeks ago, there was another theory that white supremacist themes were being pushed in a Facebook ad buy:

it was just brought to my attention that the trump campaign ran 88 ads with nazi iconography and the first sentence of each ad is 14 words long. 1488 is a neo-nazi hate symbol. antifash gordon and others noticed https://t.co/Bn2AvjMfB3

— Ali Breland (@alibreland) June 18, 2020

According to the ADL, “1488” is also well-known among white supremacists:

1488 is a combination of two popular white supremacist numeric symbols. The first symbol is 14, which is shorthand for the “14 Words” slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The second is 88, which stands for “Heil Hitler” (H being the 8th letter of the alphabet). Together, the numbers form a general endorsement of white supremacy and its beliefs. As such, they are ubiquitous within the white supremacist movement – as graffiti, in graphics and tattoos, even in screen names and e-mail addresses, such as aryanprincess1488@hate.net. Some white supremacists will even price racist merchandise, such as t-shirts or compact discs, for $14.88.

The symbol is most commonly written as 1488 or 14/88, but variations such as 14-88 or 8814 are also common.

The reactions are mainly premised on the unsubstantiated idea that someone in Trump’s orbit is composing these messages for him, not that Trump himself is steeped in knowledge about neo-Nazi numerological codes. Trump himself posted a video over the weekend in which a supporter of his repeatedly shouts “White Power!”, before deleting the message several hours later.

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